KKR sealed the second spot
PUNE: Pune warriors batting failed miserably in their own backyard to hand them yet another defeat. Kolkata with this win sealed second spot and set up a first qualifier match against table-toppers Delhi Daredevils.
Kolkata chose to bat first after winning the toss on a slow track. They lose Kallis and Gambhir early, But Mccullum and Sakib played sensibly and guides them toward a competitive score of 136 runs. Yusuf also played well for his little cameo of 15 runs in 10 balls. Parnell of Pune Warriors bowled well and picks two wickets.
Though the target was small but considering the variety of bowling of Kolkata it proved too much for Pune. They struggled from the beginning and never ever look to chase down the target. Pune only able to reach up to 102 runs with tight bowling from all the bowlers of Kolkata. Yusuf shines with ball also and pick two crucial wickets.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 136 for 4 (Shakib 42, McCullum 41, Parnell 2-18) beat Pune Warriors 102 for 8 (Yusuf 2-12, Shakib 2-18) by 34 runs
Gambhir: “We wanted to finish in the top 2, we play Delhi now and helps us two cracks. We were discussing before this game to treat this as the quarter-finals and win the next three matches to win the IPL.”
Ganguly:” It has been a tough season, young franchise, struggled with the pitch, the toss played its part, need to deal with it and get better.We need to get away from this, allow the boys to get away from wherever they are, no point in having post-mortems straightaway, lot of things to do, get the right side. Haven’t thought about my own plans.”
Shakib al Hasan, man of the match:” It is very similar to wickets back home, was hitting the ball well, had a good net session last night which was good. We knew we could change the momentum by hitting a couple of boundaries.
The way we are bowling throughout the tournament, it was going to chase 135-140 against us. We are confident and we would like to continue playing the way we have, the pitch should help us in the Qualifier.”
